Thursday, December 3, 2020

Ethics of Vaccine Policy Compliance

The most consequential moral dilemma of your lifetime
is heading your way. Are you ready for it?


Dear Friends, especially those who disagree with me about covid:

If you are willing and ready to take this expedited vaccine, please understand this.

It is quite clear that this vaccine will ultimately be forced on the population... not necessarily by physical coercion, but by undue pressure, exclusionary and punitive measures that will make noncompliance all but impossible. This will undoubtedly constitute a grave violation of the Nuremberg Code.

Even if you do not personally condone such draconian actions, please understand that you will be complicit in this outrage anyway, similar to the masses of Germans who stood by silently while Jews were marginalized and deported (and ultimately murdered).

Why do I make such an audacious claim?

It's simple. We already very clearly heading down that path. Let me explain:

When you go to get the vaccine, you'll be issued a card or vaccine ID certifying your vaccinated status [1]. This will make you entitled to make use of public transportation, attend concerts and countless other venues. You'll be able to work, attend school or university, and access all the amenities of society.

While you'll be enjoying all these privileges, millions of your fellow Americans -- those who cannot get vaccinated due to their deeply-held religious/ethical/moral/philosophic values -- will be excluded. It will be a gradual process and won't happen overnight. Initially, they'll be banned from your flight. Then they'll be barred from your workplace, prohibited from attending your school. Their children will eventually not be allowed to attend school. Ultimately, they will be banned from most (if not all) public venues, gyms, clubs, or public pools. They'll be regarded as pariahs and second-class citizens.

Forget about them sitting on the back of the bus. They won't be allowed on the bus altogether!

There might be separate restrooms for unvaccinated folks, or maybe not. They might not be welcome in town altogether.

They will be dubbed as 'public health risks' -- similar to how Jews were regarded in Nazi Germany -- and will be marginalized from society, the society of which you are an eager participant.

The erstwhile free world will regress into an authoritarian medical apartheid of sorts, and you willingly fell in line.

By participating in this discriminatory society, you are party to the discrimination and bigotry. When you show your vaccine ID papers and thereby gain access to the concert or flight, you are supporting this grave injustice.

You will be tainting your soul with an indelible sin of complicity to crimes against humanity.

As much as I still love and respect you, please know that you will become morally compromised.

I know that you are afraid of covid, and that you might even fear for your life (or the lives of others). However, please understand that there are moral values that transcend life itself.

Is it preferable to leave yourself exposed to risk of a disease that has a 99.9% survival rate and NOT sully your soul by being party to unconscionable crimes against a persecuted minority? I'd say so.

There is no neutrality in this unprecedented battle for the soul of mankind.

Tell your elected officials that you will NOT comply with a policy of discrimination and compulsory vaccination.

This is not about the safety of a vaccine or lack thereof, or about your religious values vis-a-vis vaccination. This is about your tolerance for police state, medical tyranny, and persecution of a minority.

This is undoubtedly the biggest moral challenge of your lifetime.

Make no mistake about it. The decision whether to comply with this unjust policy teeters precariously on the brink of moral bankruptcy.

Choose wisely.

I'm rooting for you.

2 comments:

Chaim Yankel said...

"I know that you are afraid of covid, and that you might even fear for your life (or the lives of others). However, please understand that there are moral values that transcend life itself."?

What is more important than life itself? From what I know the list is short, 3 things... vaccines and "moral values" are not on that list.

Rabbi Michoel Green said...

Correct. The moral values I referred to are shfichus domim, gilui aroyos, and avoda zoro, but include other facets, such as chilul Hashem, and also an existential threat to the kiyum of yidishkeit, as Rabbi Akiva demonstrated in the famous story in Berochos 61b. The Chazon Ish wrote that pikuach nefesh is docheh kol haTorah kulo, but is not oiker kol haTorah. It overrides but does not UPROOT. Supporting policies like these is an unthinkable act of marginalizing an entire segment of klal yisroel threatens to uproot the most basic tenets of yiddishkeit. And more importantly, pikuach nefesh doesn't apply to prevention of potential illness. See Noda B’yehuda mahadura tinyono Yoreh Deah 210, cited by Mishne Halachos (Rabbi Menashe Klein), Mador Hateshuvos, 6:203, prohibiting autopsy of fetus (nivul hamais) even if it's to save a future life. See also Mahadura tinyono, 2:253.